Related Tags

Google Product Listing ads deliver higher CTR than search ads

Two new search studies have found that Google’s Product Listing Ads (PLA) far outperform standard text ads in terms of CTR and CPC.

PLAs appear in the top right of search results and feature additional product information such as an image and price.

They recently became more important as the search giant has said that US retailers will only appear in Google Shopping results if they are also paying for PLAs. The same model will be rolled out in Europe early next year.

And in what will be welcome news for Google, new data from Kenshoo shows that retailers investing in PLAs are achieving excellent results.

Analysis of more than 270m global impressions and clicks shows that the CTR for PLAs was 73% higher than standard text ads and more importantly the conversion rate was 35% higher.

Furthermore, the average CPC was 36% lower meaning that the ROI achieved with PLAs is 46% better than with standard ads.

A separate study by The Search Agency found that PLA spending among its clients saw a significant increase in market share between Q2 and Q3, probably due to the changes in the way Google Shopping works.

PLA moved from a 1.5% market share in Q2 to 5.6% in Q3, while its click share also increased from 1.2% to 7.9%.

The report also found that CTR increased from 1.89% to 2.37% between Q2 and Q3, while CPC fell from 41 cents to 26 cents in the same period.

Enjoying this article?

Get more just like this, delivered to your inbox.

Keep up to date with the latest analysis, inspiration and learning from the Econsultancy blog with our free Digital Pulse newsletter. You will receive a hand-picked digest of the latest and greatest articles, as well as snippets of new market data, best practice guides and trends research.